Podcasts about litrpg

Is Dungeon Crawler Carl the epitome of LitRPG perfection? In this episode, we dive into the world of LitRPG and explore what makes Dungeon Crawler Carl stand out from the rest. From its engaging storyline to its unique gameplay mechanics, we'll examine the elements that make this book a must-read for fans of the genre. Whether you're a seasoned LitRPG enthusiast or just discovering the world of literary RPGs, this episode is for you. So, join us as we delve into the world of Dungeon Crawler Carl and find out what makes it a true masterpiece of LitRPG literature.#FantasyForTheAges #readingrecommendations #LitRPG #DungeonCrawler #fantasy #SFF #FantasyFiction #TBR #ToBeRead #ReadingList #booktube #booktuberWant to purchase books/media mentioned in this episode?Dungeon Crawler Carl: https://t.ly/8AzjnHe Who Fights with Monsters: https://t.ly/Noem5 Ways to connect with us:Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FantasyForTheAges Follow Jim/Father on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13848336-jim-scriven Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/jMWyVJ6qKk Follow us on "X": @Fantasy4theAges Follow us on Blue Sky: @fantasy4theages.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram: fantasy_for_the_ages Follow us on Mastodon: @FantasyForTheAges@nerdculture.de Email us: FantasyForTheAges@gmail.com Check out our merch: https://www.newcreationsbyjen.com/collections/fantasyfortheagesJim's Microphone: Blue Yeti https://tinyurl.com/3shpvhb4 ————————————————————————————Music and video elements licensed under Envato Elements:https://elements.envato.com/

Welcome to the 96th Episode of the ABC Pod the Adult Book Club where we drink and we read things. This episodefeatures Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Discussion of the book starts at the 12th minute. Because this book is a LITRPG and not a conventional act based set up, there is no spoilers section or maybe spoilers throughout depending on how you look at it. We start by discussing our who/what/where and then move into questions about specific events and secondary characters. We make a few guesses at where we think this series is headed and then finish with Russ' final recap from his Wheel of Time journey and revealing what's on the next episode. Enjoy! 

The Blasters & Blades PodcastWe've got another interview with an amazing US Army veteran turned author. This time we're interviewing author TJ Reynolds (aka Rose) on to talk about her book Remnant Mage in The Twin Realms Apocalypse Series. This was a fun chat that ran a tad long, but we had fun learning about her fun LitRPG world. This fantasy progression sounds like it'll be extremely enjoyable! This was a fun interview, so go check out this episode. Lend us your eyes and ears, you won't be sorry!! Join us for a fun show! We're just a couple of nerdy Army veterans geeking out on things that go "abracadabra," "pew," "zoom," "boop-beep" and rhyme with Science Fiction & Fantasy. Co-Hosts: JR Handley (Author) (Grunt)Nick Garber (Comic Book Artist) (Super Grunt)Madam Stabby Stab (Uber Fan) (Horror Nerd)We work for free, so if you wanna throw a few pennies our way there is a linked Buy Me A Coffee site where you can do so. Just mention the podcast in the comments when you donate, and I'll keep the sacred bean water boiling!Support the Show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AuthorJRHandley Our LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/blastersandbladespodcast Today's SponsorGenesis: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure by Jonathan Yanez & Ross Buzzell: https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-LitRPG-Journey-Legends-Online-ebook/dp/B07S9HTZ67/ Coffee Brand Coffee Affiliate Support the Show: https://coffeebrandcoffee.com/?ref=y4GWASiVorJZDb Discount Code: PodcastGrunts Coupon Code Gets you 10% offRemnant Mage, The Twin Realms Apocalypse Series by TJ Reynolds: https://www.amazon.com/Remnant-Mage-Apocalypse-Progression-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B0F4T37Y7S Follow TJ Reynolds on social mediaTJ's Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/TJ-Reynolds/author/B07XXJF5QL TJ's Website: https://tjreynoldsbooks.com/ TJ's Twitter: https://x.com/treynoldswrites TJ's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TJReynoldsAuthor/ TJ's Discord: https://discord.com/invite/ZdpKXCDg TJ's Patreon: https://bit.ly/4jCcaMj TJ's GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20236720.T_J_Reynolds TJ's Royal Roads: https://www.royalroad.com/profile/144227Atlas Kane's Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Atlas-Kane/author/B087799H74 Recommended ReadingChimera King Omnibus by Atlas Kane: https://www.amazon.com/Chimera-King-Box-Set-Books-ebook/dp/B08W8LZWBB Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree: https://www.amazon.com/Legends-Lattes-Novel-Fantasy-Stakes-ebook/dp/B0B3755RV9 Geminis Crossing by Arlo Adams: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P7Y7L3D #scifishenanigans #scifishenaniganspodcast #bbp #blastersandblades #blastersandbladespodcast #podcast #scifipodcast #fantasypodcast #scifi #fantasy #books #rpg #comics #fandom #literature #comedy #veteran #army #armyranger #ranger #scififan #redshirts #scifiworld #sciencefiction #scifidaily #scificoncept #podcastersofinstagram #scificons #podcastlife #podcastsofinstagram #scifibooks #awardwinningscifi #newepisode #podcastersofinstagram #podcastaddict #podcast #scifigeek #scifibook #sfv #scifivisionaries #firesidechat #chat #panel #fireside #religionquestion #coffee #tea #coffeeortea #CoffeeBrandCoffee #JRHandley #NickGarber #MadamStabby #RoseReynolds #TJReynolds #starwars #jedi #georgelucas #lucasfilms #startrek #trekkie #firefly #serenity #browncoat #wheeloftime #wot #robertjordan #brandonsanderson #gameofthrones #got #grrm #georgerrmartin #ChroniclesofNarnia #CSLewis #RemnantMage #TheTwinRealmsApocalypse # brontosaurus #LandBeforeTime #Velociraptor #Trex #TyrannosaurusRex #JurassicPark #Amphibians #Reptiles #Mushrooms #Primeval #PrimevalNewWorld #Espresso #FlatWhiteEspresso #Cortado #quattro #Starbucks #AtlasKane #ChimeraKing #LegendsAndLattes #TravisBaldree #GeminisCrossing #ArloAdams #Necromancer #Spiritmancer #Mage #PortalFantasy #SummonerClass #Death Knight #SecondWorld

Welcome to the 95th Episode of the ABC Pod the Adult Book Club where we drink and we read things. This episodefeatures The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks. Discussion of the book starts at the 10th minute. Spoilers are between the 37 and 1:11 minute marks. We discuss our three points of view and the mystery surrounding each of them. In spoilers we talk about the Wastelands itself and the creatures and plants that inhabit it as well as what we thought about our passenger's decision at the end of the book. We finish with our usual segments and a LITRPG story for next time. Enjoy!

Originally recorded on 4/16/25 Danny and Gerry talk about Netflix's Devil May Cry, Marvel Rivals, Star Wars, and more. Email: Unversedpocast@gmail.com

After an unforeseen hiatus due to technical issues, we're back with the one and only Sam Hinton. You may know him as samreay on reddit, or as the guy who made the amazing website where you can check out all the cover artists in the genre. Please check out Sam's books here:https://mybook.to/SoulRelicAnd his Website here:https://cosmiccoding.com.au/-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

In this episode, we're talking about the writing and worldbuilding in the sci-fi/LitRPG novel Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. (Disclosure: we are a Bookshop.org affiliate, so if you purchase through these links, we will earn a small commission AND you will support an indie bookstore!)Proprietor's Pick: The Wandering Inn by pirateabaIntro and outro music: "The Tavern" by Michael GhelfiVisit the Tavern: ⁠Website⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠Listen to our Worldbuilding Workshop bonus episodes by joining our ⁠Patreon⁠⁠Support Haneen's family in Gaza

In this week's episode, we take a look at marketing for writers, and discuss how it can both benefit and hinder writers. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Fury of the Barbarians, Book #5 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store: BARBARIAN50 The coupon code is valid through May 2, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 247 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is April 11th, 2025, and today we are looking at marketing challenges for writers.   First, let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Fury of the Barbarians, Book Five in the Dragonskull series (as excellent narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store. That code is BARBARIAN50. We will have the coupon code in the show notes along with links to the store. This coupon code is valid through May 2, 2025, so if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered.   Now let's have an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. I am done with the rough draft of Shield of Battle and its accompanying short story, Raven's Hunt. I am currently editing them and making good progress on that. The book should come out either right before or right after Easter, with right after being the more likely option the way it looks right now. I'm also 14,000 words into Ghost in the Corruption, which will be my main project once Shield of Battle comes out. Audio recording is still underway for Shield of Deception and Ghost in the Assembly. So more updates on that to come. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects.   00:01:17 Question of the Week   And now let's take a look at Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, what is the best TV show you started watching in 2025 (if any)? No wrong answers, obviously.   Justin says: Television shows? The TV in my house is used for video games and movies. It has been 18 years since I watched any TV shows. Surabhi says: Nowadays the only non-Marvel series I watch are animes like Doraemon and Shinchan XD.   Perry says: I never watched a lot of TV but I do catch the odd European football or hockey game. That said, I'm enjoying The Wheel of Time.   Sam says: Clarkson's Farm. He might be a love him/hate him chap, but he certainly does make for entertaining shows. It also shows just how fickle the farming industry can be and shines a much needed light on the issues they face.   I would like to second Sam's recommendation of Clarkson's Farm. It's definitely well worth watching if you have access to Amazon Prime. Bonnie says:  I'm totally out of the loop. Haven't really watched any TV since I binged Avengers and Star War when home with Covid in 2021. I read during downtime.   Andrew says: Tracker is okay. Matlock is good, well-written. I want to like Watson, but have given up. Dark Winds is excellent. 1923 got so dark, I quit. Landman started great, got worse when wife character entered the picture. Re-watching Lonesome Dove. Love it.   David says: The Blacklist.   Michael says: No particular series as I don't really watch much on TV, but a shout out to the Japanese NHK World Channel, which is essentially their international service in English available to watch live on their website, at least in my country or via their app. There's so much good content on there, really interesting documentaries, news features, Japanese shows, and of course the highlights of the Sumo tournaments.   Larry says: Starting The Outpost.   John says: My brother has recommended Wolf Hall. My most anticipated series is Andor. I think of what I watched this year thus far my guilty pleasure was Reacher, most emotional was 1923, most cerebral has been Severance, and funniest has been The Residence. No favorite standout yet.   Juana says: Tracker.   William says: Poker Face was enjoyable.   For myself, I think it would be Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light about the downfall of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII. I'll have more to say about that later in my Winter/Spring 2025 Movie Roundup post in a few weeks.   00:03:29 Main Topic: Marketing   Now let's move on to our main topic, writing adjacent activities: marketing. This is part of my podcast series about what I call writing adjacent activities. What do I mean by this? I'm talking about the tasks that seem like they're part of the writing process but really belong in a different category. These tasks are important, don't get me wrong, but they can also be a pitfall if you spend too much time on them or don't use that time correctly. In this series, we are focusing on a few of these tasks and how they can benefit or hinder your writing process, even though they seem like good uses of time and may in fact be beneficial. In this episode, we will talk about marketing. For the self-published author, it is an absolutely essential thing to do. Even traditionally published authors are becoming involved in their marketing or hiring marketing firms apart from their publishers to help with that work. Even important tasks can still take time away from the most important one, writing.   First, how does marketing work for writers in the first place? Even as traditional advertising and print media like newspapers and periodicals has all disappeared by 2025, there are still many, many ways to advertise a book. Here are some examples:   Social media and I don't mean ads, I mean posting content about your book or engaging readers on social media about your book. It's become increasingly common in this age of a video-based social media like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels for authors to post short clips about them interacting with their book or doing things with their book and so forth. And that is, I think, a distinct category from ads.   Ads of course are another type of marketing such as Amazon Ads, Facebook, BookBub, etc.   An email newsletter where you send out an email to your newsletter subscribers when a book comes out   Having an author website   Group promotions where you work together with a group of authors to promote   Doing interviews with podcasts, local media, etc. (though these days podcasts have essentially superseded local media)   Sending out advanced reader copies   Permafree/discounts   I should note that of everything on this list, I've done them all except for advanced reader copies, which I never really bothered to do because I write so fast that it seems to be kind of pointless at that point. Now I got to admit that list seems overwhelming, but you're not going to do them all simultaneously. Most authors pick a few from the list and then focus on them, and then some of them take some work upfront like setting up your author website and then it's less work to maintain it and update it as you go along than it is to set it up to begin with.   For example, making many of my series starters permafree has been an extremely successful strategy for me. For an author who only has two books, that strategy would not be as effective, but if you have a series of nine books then that is a good idea.   So why is it beneficial to market your books? A couple years ago (and I've told this story before, but it bears repeating), I was at a Subway waiting in line to order lunch. The person in front of me was staring at the menu in great confusion. “Does this shop sell submarine sandwiches?”, she finally asked the sandwich artist. Even with 40,000 locations worldwide and millions of dollars in advertising each year, this person was completely unaware of Subway's offerings.   This moment made me realize that marketing must be constant even for big legacy brands like Subway or Coca-Cola because there is always someone out there who isn't familiar with what you have to offer them. If multi-billion dollar corporations like Coca-Cola and Subway have people who haven't heard of them, how much more [work is there for] indie authors like us? There is in my opinion, an erroneous sentiment that getting too involved in marketing as an author somehow cheapens your work, devalues your art, or means that you're not as committed to your art. That sentiment is frankly, in my opinion, self-destructive and keeping a lot of people from reaching new readers or keeping existing ones as new books come out.   Marketing is necessary and needs to be ongoing to work. It's important to remember that readers love new books and want to know more about them. Your goal is to just let them know what's available and how to find your work. You're not being annoying by creating an ad or sending out a newsletter when a new book drops. Even if you have loyal readers, it's likely only a very tiny percentage of them are obsessively checking ebook stores daily for your latest publications. Social media and newsletters in particular are effective ways to let people know when the latest content is ready or can help them get excited for an upcoming release. Just as importantly, good marketing can help you find people who are interested in your genre or read authors similar to you.   So marketing is a good thing and it is in fact necessary if you want to have a career as an indie author or sell books in any quantities. However, it can become a pitfall that takes time away from actually writing new books. So when can it be a pitfall? There are about five different ways it can become a hindrance to writing.   #1: The most obvious pitfall is that time spent working on marketing is time not spent on writing. Although marketing is an essential part of how writers make income, it's only going to go so far compared to creating new books. This is in fact a decision I've had to make many times where if there's only so many hours in the day, and if I have an hour and I have to choose an hour spent fiddling with ads to try and optimize them to sell old books or to focus on writing new books, very often I have decided to focus on writing new books. Or if I have ads that are underperforming, I just shut them off and don't think about them until I have a free moment when the current book is done because writing the latest book is where my attention and priority should be. #2: The second pitfall is that spending too much time on social media or various forums like Reddit can also skew your perspective and give you an unreal view of the preferences of your readership. You'll likely only engage with a small percentage of your readers online. Just because they're reaching out to you or sharing their opinions online doesn't mean that their opinion matches the rest of your readership. An example of this is when Warner Brothers thought there was a massive demand for the Snyder Cut of the Justice League movie based on an online fan campaign and spent a very large amount of money for the recut of the movie, only for it to have a fairly modest audience that didn't recoup the cost. Later it came out that much of the Twitter campaign for the recut were bot accounts, people with multiple social media accounts, or people that ultimately pirated the movie instead of getting an HBO subscription to watch it when it finally became available on streaming. The Internet is a very useful tool, but it's best to take it with a grain of salt and remember that that just because one person is saying something on the Internet doesn't mean there are ten or even a hundred silent people who share their views. As with the example with the Justice League movie, large businesses have run into that trouble where they assume just because a particular audience segment is very loud on social media, therefore it must be a large segment when in fact it turns out to be just a very loud minority that ultimately isn't going to have much buying power. So that is something to keep in mind when you examine [social media], that opinions expressed online may not necessarily reflect reality.   #3: There is also the temptation to get so lost in thinking of how a book will be marketed, that when you write it, you don't try to write a book that is authentic to you or your readers. Trying to piece together a book based on the latest tropes or sales trends will likely mean that by the time the book is ready, social media will have moved onto another one. Writing to market is a form of marketing that sometimes works, but often results in something that feels formulaic or doesn't match your writing style. You can't always tell if the author hated the book when they were writing it, but sometimes you can. And it's sometimes very obvious to tell if an author wrote a book not because he or she enjoyed writing it but because they thought it would sell. And I think deep down, you really have to enjoy the genre you're writing in, which is why many frustrated mystery, fantasy, and science fiction authors saw how well romance doing and so decided to try writing romance only to deep down they didn't enjoy reading romance and so they didn't write a romance book that anyone would enjoy reading. So that is the potential risk of that temptation.   #4: Another pitfall is the urge to market your way out of a book that isn't connecting with readers. If a book doesn't meet reader expectations, no amount of marketing is going to significantly change that. Sometimes it's best to cut your losses with a book or series if it's not performing the way that you expect instead of throwing even more money marketing at it. I'm afraid I have a very recent example for my own life in the form of these Stealth and Spells Online series.   I think the problem with that series is I fundamentally misread what the LitRPG audience wants. Stealth and Spells Online is about a virtual reality game, but what the LitRPG audience really seems to want these days is either Portal Isekai or System Apocalypse Fantasy, which Stealth and Spells Online most definitely isn't. I told the narrator that I intended to write a LitRPG, but what I ended up with was a science fiction espionage thriller with LitRPG elements. So that, as you might expect, has been very hard to market and very hard to turn a profit while marketing it. So what I decided to do was I originally planned for seven or eight books in the series, but I'm going to cut it down to three and wrap up the story in hopefully a satisfying way with book number three this summer. That is a lived experience example of a changing course when some marketing doesn't work.   #5: There can be a feeling that you're missing out if you're not trying a marketing strategy that worked for someone else, so you'll end up stretching yourself thin by trying everything, stretching your marketing time across social media, newsletters, video content, posting the spaces like Goodreads, assembling a launch team, sending out advanced reader copies, going on podcasts, doing interviews with local media, and doing guest blog posts simply is not sustainable. There is a potential value in doing a short-term marketing sprint like that where you do all the things for a few days, but doing that all the time is not a good idea. As we mentioned earlier, it can take away time that should be spent writing. So really the best marketing course is to pick a few tactics that you enjoy and are comfortable using and then do those most of the time and save everything else for special occasions or if an opportunity comes up. For myself, I mostly focus on setting first in series permafree and doing various ad campaigns on Facebook, Amazon, and BookBub. I tend to stay away from TikTok and video marketing and some of the more time intensive things. I prefer things like permafree or various CPC ads where I can set it up and let it run and then check on it every few days to make sure it's working or not spending too much. So how can you balance time spent on marketing with making progress with your writing? The best way to market your old books is to publish a new one. Algorithms on online stores like Amazon and all the others reward fresh books and readers have short memories, so taking years between series risks them forgetting you.   Finishing a series in a timely fashion is crucial now many readers, especially in Epic Fantasy (for a variety of reasons), will only start series that are already completed, having been burned by series that were left unfinished. Having a polished product should also precede your marketing efforts. If your cover looks bad, your money would be better spent on getting a professional looking cover instead of more Facebook ads. Taking the time to make a good cover and good ad copy for your ads is also important before you spend money on marketing. For marketing, it will save you time and money to map out your goals for it each year just like you map out a set of goals for what you'll publish each year. Having a clear set of goals will keep you from trying every new thing that you hear about just because it worked for someone else. It's also wise to be honest with yourself about your strengths when considering how you spend your marketing time. If you hate TikTok, forcing yourself to make videos there isn't going to lead to compelling content that would make people want to buy your book. The authors who have had success with TikTok had that because they were able to genuinely connect with an audience there, not just because they threw a book trailer on the platform and hoped for the best. As with many writing adjacent activities, it is best to have a set block of time to work on marketing and to plan even the time spent checking ads and responding to social media comments so it doesn't take over your writing time. Just like having a plan for each year with some larger goals is a good idea, having a daily or weekly set of goals for marketing can help keep you focused.   In conclusion, the true pitfall of any writing adjacent activity is they need to be kept adjacent to the actual production of new writing. All the tasks we covered in the series are important, but writing should always be the priority if you are a writer.   So that's it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

In this week's episode, we take a look at professional development for writers, and examine both the benefits and the pitfalls. We also take a look at my advertising results for March 2025. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Curse of the Orcs, Book #4 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store: ORCCURSE50 The coupon code is valid through April 25, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 246 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is April 4, 2025, and today we are looking at professional development for writers. Before we get to our main topic, we'll have Coupon of the Week, an update on my current writing and audiobook projects, Question of the Week, and then a look back at how my various ads performed for March 2025.   So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Curse of the Orcs, Book Four in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store. That coupon code is ORCCURSE50. As always, you can find the coupon code and the links to my store in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through April 25th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered.   Now for an update on my current writing projects. I'm very pleased to report that the rough draft of Shield of Battle is done, 102,800 words written in 22 days. That will be the second to last book in the Shield War series. If all goes well, I'm still hoping to have that out and edited and published before the end of the month. I'm now working on a currently untitled short story that newsletter subscribers will get for free in ebook form when Shield of Battle comes out. So this might be a great time to sign up for my new release newsletter. I am also 10,000 words into Ghost in the Corruption and that will be my main project after Shield of Battle is out.   Recording is still underway for Shield of Deception and Ghost in the Assembly. That is Brad Wills and Hollis McCarthy narrating, respectively. So I am looking forward to having those audiobooks out for you to listen to and then Shield the Battle and Ghost in the Corruption available for you to read, but I just have to get back to work on them.   00:01:48 Question of the Week   Now it's time for Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, what games (if any) are you currently playing? No wrong answers, including “I don't play video games”. The inspiration for this question was that the fact that Nintendo was having this big Switch 2 announcement on April 2, which is amusing to me personally on a meta level because people have been speculating wildly about a Switch successor for years. Baseless Switch 2 rumors have been a clickfarm industry for years. Probably Nintendo had to have it on April 2 so no one would think it was a really elaborate April Fool's Day joke. Justin says: Online it would be World of Warcraft Classic. Otherwise, it is Conquest of the New World. Like me, my games are old and dated.   I can relate to Justin because I'm currently playing a game that was first made in 1994, but more on that later.   Sam says: Currently dancing between two games, my long-term love game, Final Fantasy 14 and Dragon Age: the Veilguard. The Veilguard was a massive disappointment for me, unfortunately, but it still has its reasonably okay points, but man, the developers dropped the ball in the worst way since Cyberpunk's disastrous release.   That's interesting because I've actually encountered a couple different people who have played Dragon Age: Veilguard and they either love it or hate it. There is just no in-between. So that does seem to be the kind of game where you either love the thing or you just hate it. Todd says: Enjoying No Man's Sky, waiting for Light No Fire. Continuing to grind World of Warcraft retail. Recently played the re-release of Half Life. Today, I also installed Lands of Lore, gotta love Patrick Stewart as King Richard!   I had forgotten that Patrick Stewart voiced King Richard back in the ‘90s in the Lands of Lore game. His most famous video game part (I think) is playing Emperor Uriel Septim in the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.   JKM says: Monster Hunter Wilds and Star Citizen.   Jesse says: Been doing an on and off run on Enshrouded. The story hasn't hugely gripped me as yet, but the mechanics are fun if you like Breath of the Wilds-esque world exploration.   Michael says: I'm currently playing Star Traders: Frontiers, which is a 2D indie space trading/exploration/crew management game in a vaguely Dune-like setting. It has turn based squad combat in Darkest Dungeon style too. Originally a mobile game but mechanics are surprisingly deep. It's good fun.   Randy says: Wizardry Remaster. Ironic because I didn't play the original.   For myself, I am kind of alternating between three current games. I am playing the Master of Magic remake on the PC and I'm determined to finally beat a campaign at that. I am still playing Iratus: Lord of the Dead and drawing closer to the final level. And when I'm really tired and don't want to do anything else that requires a lot of brain power, I still fire up some Starfield and go really mess up the day of some procedurally generated space pirates.   So watch my website and Facebook for Question of the Week if you want to have your comment read on the show as well.   00:04:39 Ad Results for March 2025   Now let's look at how my ads for my books did in March 2025, which is interesting because I changed things up a fair bit for ads in March. The reason I did this is because the economy isn't great and not likely to improve for several years. I saw someone arguing that all the policy decisions in the Covid era will have a 15 year economic hangover into which we're only five years, and I think that argument might have some merit to it. So because of that, I thought it might be prudent to move some older series into Kindle Unlimited. So I did that with the Demonsouled books and with Cloak Games, though not with Cloak Mage, which will remain wide as new books come out. I might do it with Silent Order as well, but I haven't decided. My thinking is that as people are looking to economize, subscription services will probably offer better value than direct book sales.   So let's see how we did. For Facebook ads, I did Cloak Games/Cloak Mage and The Ghosts. For Games/Cloak Mage, I got $4.14 back for every $1 spent, with 10% of the profit coming from the audiobooks. For The Ghosts, I got back $8.73 for every dollar spent, with 6% of the profit coming from the audiobooks. Obviously the total for The Ghosts might be inflated because of Ghosts in the Assembly, which did well. Thanks, everyone! Without Ghosts in the Assembly, The Ghosts still would've done $3.68 for every dollar spent, with 15% for the profit coming from the audiobooks. So still pretty good.   For Amazon ads, I mostly focused on Half-Elven Thief. Remember that for an Amazon ad to be successful, it needs to get a sale or a complete Kindle Unlimited read for every six to eight clicks. So for Half-Elven Thief, I got back $3.41 for every $1 spent, with a sale or a complete KU read for every 0.84 clicks, which is a really good result. However, it was not all roses in Amazon ads because I gave up on advertising Stealth and Spells Online: Creation. I've realized I fundamentally misunderstood what readers in the LitRPG actually want. I'm still going to finish the series this summer with the final book. I am 75,000 words into it as of this recording, but I don't think I'm going to advertise the series anymore.   For Demonsouled, I did a combined Facebook/Amazon ads campaign and for a combined campaign like that, it's easiest just to track the return. So for Demonsouled, I got back $2.53 for every dollar spent on Facebook and Amazon ads. So that was pretty close to how it did in February.   I also did some BookBub ad campaigns for The Ghosts and Sevenfold Sword on Apple. For The Ghosts, we got back $9.24 for every dollar I spent and for Sevenfold Sword, I got back $6.76 back for every dollar spent. So those are some very good results.   Finally, I've begun experimenting with BookBub ads for Google Play. I tried out Sevenfold Sword first and for Sevenfold Sword on Google Play with BookBub ads, we got back $3.86 for every dollar. So that is a promising beginning and I might try more experiments with BookBub ads and Google Play in May. So a good month all in all. Thanks for reading, everyone. Hopefully I'll have more new books for you soon.   00:07:46 Main Topic: Professional Development   So our main topic this week will be part three of our series on writing adjacent activities, and that is professional development. As I mentioned on past episodes, I'm working on a new podcast series on what I call writing adjacent activities. What do I mean by this? I'm talking about the tasks that seem like they're a part of the writing process but really belong in a different category. These tasks are important, but they can also be a pitfall if you spend too much time on them or don't use that time correctly. In this series, we'll focus on a few of these tasks and how they can benefit or hinder your writing process, even though they seem like good uses of time and may in fact be beneficial in proper amounts.   In this episode, we'll talk about professional development for writers. Those working in education, healthcare, or the corporate world will be very familiar with this concept. For those who aren't familiar with professional development, let's explain what it is. What is professional development and what is it for writers specifically? Professional development generally means gaining skills or knowledge that can help someone stay current in their field and grow in their work. In some fields like teaching or healthcare, professional development is required and must be done regularly. Some examples of typical professional development tasks include learning a new programming language, attending conferences, and reading professional journals. Writers have many of these same opportunities. Ther are a slew of conferences, workshops, webinars, videos, courses, and books available for writers to hone their craft, pick up marketing skills, and learn the ever evolving technical skills needed to self-publish and have an online presence. Some of these options, especially conferences and retreats, can be very expensive and time consuming while others are free and quick to consume, such as blog posts or podcast episodes.   How can you benefit from professional development? There are five ways.   #1: You can learn information and techniques that can help you improve your writing. An example would be a workshop session presenting data on when readers typically give up when starting a new book, which can help you think about how your book is structured.   #2: You can learn about technology and software that can make your work more efficient or look more professional. An example of this would be tutorials on how to use formatting software to turn Word documents into a formatted ebook.   #3: In-person professional development can help you network with others in your field. For example, if one of your priorities is being added to group promotion, meeting other authors at a workshop or a conference could lead to more promising leads than just emailing people.   #4: You can keep up with the constant changes in the field and adjust your strategies and plans accordingly. For example, Amazon's policies for KDP change constantly, sometimes monthly, it feels like. Writing blogs and podcasts can often explain these changes in a practical way that's more efficient than trying to parse long legal documents yourself.   #5: Finally, and fifthly, some people find professional development motivational or it helps them to feel more excited about their work. An example is a phenomenon called the post conference high, when someone returns from a conference with a high level of excitement and a list of plans a mile long. It's easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day tasks of work and sometimes professional development can shake things up in a positive way.   So professional development can be a good thing, but there are ways it can hinder your writing process. So we'll look at four ways that professional development can get in the way of you actually sitting down and getting some writing done.   #1: One of the downsides of being a writer is that professional development must be self-funded or you must pursue your own scholarships or grants for it, which are pretty limited compared to professional development in other fields. It is quite easy to spend tens of thousands of dollars on it each year, so each opportunity must be carefully considered. It's important not to spend money without a clear plan for how to turn it into action and without researching less expensive (but still effective) options that might serve your purposes. It's also important to look carefully to see if you can find lower cost options before registering for something. For example, instead of going to a weeklong residential bootcamp to learn WordPress, you could find a community education class or a LinkedIn Learning class (which many libraries provide to their patrons). Do you need a full course offered by another author or are you only interested in one portion of it and can learn that information from a YouTube channel? There is a lot of nonsense on the Internet of course, but one of the advantages of living in the modern era is that there is an abundance of good free information. You just have to find it.   My podcast transcriptionist has something that she likes to call the Two Buck Chuck Principle. It is named after the store brand of wine from Trader Joe's. That's way back when it was $2 a bottle, hence the popular nickname for it. Many people refuse to stray from this cheapest available option at the store because they find it meets their alcohol related needs and refuse to buy more expensive bottles.   The point of this principle is that like those Trader Joe's shoppers, my podcast transcriptionist will search for the free and low cost option for something first and then see what is missing from them that a more expensive option offers before buying the more expensive option. For example, if you're just starting out as a writer, you may be tempted to pay $3,000 or $4,000 for consulting sessions about advertising strategies because you read a convincing testimonial. Realistically, if you only have one or two books with only a handful of reviews and you're not willing to throw thousands of additional dollars on a professional style ad campaign, this would be severe overkill.   Applying the Two Buck Chuck Principle to this person's ad spending, it would make more sense to learn the basics first through webinars and blog posts on the topic. Something like Brian Cohen's Five Day Amazon Ad Challenge would teach the basics of using the interface and some strategies that keep a rookie from overspending or straying from their target audience. Once a writer has a few years of sales and several books in the same series, then perhaps it might be wise to progress to something more advanced and expensive, like hiring a consultant.   For most professional development, if you're paying money, you're either paying for being in a physical location or you're paying for the time someone else took to assemble and present the knowledge for you (in the case of a conference or workshop, both). For the latter, you can usually apply this Two Buck Chuck Principle by taking the time to assemble the knowledge yourself or find others who have through blogs, podcasts, and lower cost books. Someone like Joanna Penn or David Gaughran provides a wealth of sensible advice through these types of much lower cost options.   #2: Professional development, like many other writing adjacent activities, can give you the illusion of progress. Knowing about something and actually doing it are very different things. You have to have a specific plan for how you will implement your professional development. The sooner you start after completing your professional development activity, the more likely you are to benefit from it. Even five minutes a day working on it helps keep the knowledge fresh and gives you the confidence to continue.   #3: The number of available options for professional development can be paralyzing and it can be easy to feel like you have to do it all. The fear of missing out is a very real phenomenon, but it's necessary to combat it by being intentional with your time. Start by making your goals for the next year and then seeing what professional development you need to further those goals. For example, if creating video content is not part of your goals for the year, then it doesn't make sense to watch webinars on creating Instagram Reels or TikTok videos, even if you feel like it might be useful or you have a fear of missing out on the information. Your professional development, your goals, and your output all need to be in harmony in order to progress as a writer.   I have talked before about how a certain degree of tunnel vision is necessary to write at the pace that I do. Because I want to publish frequently, I often ignore conference and workshop opportunities because travel actively hinders my main goal of getting down as many words as possible each day.   #4: Professional development can take up so much time that it keeps you from the priority of writers, which is actually writing. Like the other writing adjacent activities out there, they expand to the size you'll allow. Planning your professional development goals for the year when you've created your writing goals can help you be disciplined in choosing the activities that will serve you best and fit with the time you can give them.   For example, if your goal is to set up an author website in May, you can allocate a little block of time each day for that month to watching tutorials, reading instructions, checking out other author sites for inspiration, and testing out the software. You wouldn't want to attend a three week intensive writing retreat in May because that would likely derail your progress on your other goal.   So finally, what do I personally do for professional development? What has helped me? I think the biggest help I had in terms of writing advice was a book called Billion Dollar Outlines by David Farland. It's well worth reading and a good look at story structure and understanding story structure that I think would be very helpful if you're struggling to finish an outline and write a book. Most of my professional development since then has been aimed towards the goal of trying to sell as many books as possible. So I took the Self-Publishing Formula course on advertising for Facebook, which was very helpful. I read a couple of different books on Facebook advertising, which was helpful. What was really helpful was a course on Photoshop I took in 2020 and 2021 that really increased my Photoshop skills and gave me the ability to do my own covers, which is very helpful because you often have to book a cover designer out well in advance. So that was very useful. And beyond that, I keep an eye on the various writing podcasts and Facebook groups. I don't really participate in the Facebook groups because that can be a huge time sink. Arguing with random people over the internet is not a productive use of time, but it is a good way to keep an eye on news within the indie author space and what people are doing and what trends you can expect to see. So that's what I do.   In short, professional development, like so many other writing adjacent activities, is a good thing that can hinder your progress if it's not done with intentionality and clear goals. As I said earlier in the podcast, your professional development, your goals, and your output all need to be harmonized in order to progress as a writer.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to the Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. And a quick note of thanks to my podcast transcriptionist for helping me to pull together the research for this episode. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

Mockingjay finale We finally did it! We've finished the original Hunger Games trilogy, and boy do we have a lot to say about how little this series had to say. You would think there would be some big ideas in a story that ends with a horrific false flag atrocity, a member of the core love triangle making cluster munitions, and multiple megalomaniacs being betrayed, but... nope! Mostly it's about how sometimes you've just gotta do you. Or something. We turn to the tantalizingly-titled 'Writing About War' interview that's intrigued us for the whole show for insights instead. We also chat about LitRPG fiction, "cozy" mysteries, pulp, and a little bit more about our upcoming project!

Following our last episode, we sit down with Travis Deverell, a.k.a. Shirtaloon, author of the popular LitRPG novel He Who Fights With Monsters. Learn more about Travis Deverell and his book series at hewhofightswithmonsters.com. Please consider supporting us below: Dan Eavenson: Check out The World of Juno, and read his book Dave Woke Up! Peter Schaefer: Check out Peter's games here, and see his newest TTRPG, The Well! Caty: Visit Griffin's Roost Books and Treasure to purchase new and used books and more! For More TMT Shenanigans: toomanythoughtsmedia.com Twitter: @TMT_Media, @ArgentRabe, @ShoelessPete, @ShimmyBook, @SinisterInfant E-mail: toomanythoughtsmedia@gmail.com

Mike, author of Lord of Goblins and Legendary Retirement is joining me today, to talk about writing for comics, pubbing books, and our upcoming trip to Japan!

For this episode of Season 4, I had the express pleasure of interviewing Canadian based author Tao Wong who is best known for his System Apocalypse post-apocalyptic LitRPG series and A Thousand Li, a Chinese xianxia fantasy series. We had a great chat about what inspires him to write, the types of stories and characters he likes to write about, and what it is like writing in different genres and subgenres.I have personally read The First Step, book 1 in his A Thousand Li series. This was a terrific read and I am excited to read book 2 very soon. His first book in the series and his co-authored book Head of the Class with Jason J. Willis are on my 2025 Reading List so please make sure to check out both videos on my Youtube Channel.Make sure to check out his book and social links below! Please make sure to subscribe to our Youtube Channel to see the latest news and updates of great authors and creators like Tao!Starlit Publishing Website: https://starlitpublishing.com/Author Amazon Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B073PSD9WY/aboutAuthor Website: https://www.mylifemytao.com/Author Instagram: @taowongauthorAuthor Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/taowongauthor/Podcast Channel Links:Patreon: patreon.com/TFSFPWebsite: https://thefantasyandscififanaticspod.com/Youtube Channel Subscription: https://youtube.com/@thefantasyandsci-fifanatic2328Rss.com: https://media.rss.com/thefantasyandsci-fifanaticspodcast/feed.xmlSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aCCUhora9GdLAduLaaqiu?si=cl-8VWgaSrOGDwJg-cKONQDiscord Server: https://discord.gg/zd6mj2rQFacebook Group join link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/402724958101648/?ref=share

This month, we discuss the popular LitRPG novel He Who Fights With Monsters, and hold a discussion on the LitRPG genre more broadly. Please consider supporting us below: Dan Eavenson: Check out The World of Juno, and read his book Dave Woke Up! Peter Schaefer: Check out Peter's games here, and see his newest TTRPG, The Well! Caty: Visit Griffin's Roost Books and Treasure to purchase new and used books and more! For More TMT Shenanigans: toomanythoughtsmedia.com Twitter: @TMT_Media, @ArgentRabe, @ShoelessPete, @ShimmyBook, @SinisterInfant E-mail: toomanythoughtsmedia@gmail.com

This week on the CritRPG Podcast I'm joined by Hannibal Forge, who talks about autism, lights in the dark, writing romantic subplots, and promising peaks early. Please check out Hannibal's Books here:https://www.royalroad.com/profile/215525-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

Alex Knight joins us this week on the CritRPG Podcast, and we discuss writer's block, being sociable, and putting on Alex's TikTok writing stream! Please check out Alex' books here:https://authoralexknight.com/-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

In this week's episode, we take a look at five lessons for writers from Barnes & Nobles' turnaround. I also discuss indie author advertising results from February 2025. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Blade of the Elves, Book #3 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store: BLADE50 The coupon code is valid through March 28, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 242 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is March 7, 2025, and today we are looking at writing lessons from the dramatic turnaround of Barnes and Noble. We'll also look at my ad results for February 2025 and we'll also have Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing projects and Question of the Week.   First off, let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Blade of the Elves, Book Number Three in the Dragon Skull Series (as excellent narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store. That coupon code is BLADE50. We'll have the coupon code and the link in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through March 28th, 2025, so if you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered. Now an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. The rough draft of Ghosts in the Assembly is done and I am 16% into the second phase of editing. If all goes well, I am planning to publish the book on March 14th, assuming there are no unanticipated interruptions, which is always risky to rely upon, but things are going well with it and I'm optimistic we can do that. I'm also 13,000 words into Shield of Battle and after Ghost in the Assembly is published, that will be my main project.   In audiobook news, Orc-Hoard, the fourth book in the Half-Elven Thief series (as narrated by Leanne Woodward), is now available and you can get it at all the usual audiobook stores. Half-Elven Thief: Omnibus One (which is a combination of Half-Elven Thief, Wizard-Thief, and Half-Orc Paladin, the first three books in the series) is also now available in audio (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward), and you can give that omnibus edition at Audible, Amazon, and Apple. So that is where I'm at with my current writing projects.   00:01:49 Question of the Week   Question the Week is designed to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, when you have an unpleasant chore that must be done, do you prefer to split it up into smaller parts over a number of days or just to get it all over with at once? No wrong answers, obviously. The inspiration for this question is the fact that it's tax prep time here in the United States, and I have spent a lot of time this week working on that.   Justin says: I prefer to get it over with all at once if possible. Extending your example, I have somehow become the tax preparer for other family members, so there are a few days where that is what I do. I also set aside a few hours every month for vehicle maintenance: check fluids, tire pressure, top off everything, look at belts (replace if worn). It's amazing how more reliable cars are when you look after them a bit.   That is very true. Good car maintenance advice from Justin.   Catriona says: Procrastinate. I love to procrastinate, then the mad dash to the very last second of the deadline. Retired now, so no longer need to be efficiently organized.   Jenny says: Oh, split if I can, procrastinate if I can't. Dishes? Do some or put some away, do more later or let my laundry pile up until I have no pants.   And Juana says: Let's get this over with. (Transcriptionist's note: this was posted in the form of a GIF of Liz Lemon from 30 Rock)   For myself, I suppose the answer is that I essentially get to do both since I'm technically a small business owner as a publisher, I do some tax stuff every month and then usually have a couple of days in March that are all tax prep. Other than that, it really depends on the size of the task in question. My preferred way would be to split a task up into smaller pieces and do 'em until they're done. But if you have something like snow shoveling, for example, you really do have to kind of bite the bullet and get it over with all at once.   00:03:21 February 2025 Ad Results   Now let's see how my ads did in February 2025. February is generally a better month for advertising than November, December, and January. The reason for that is that Valentine's Day and the Super Bowl drives some consumer spending, though not nearly as much as the Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays, and so therefore the cost per click is often lower and you can usually have good results with ads.   First up, Facebook ads. In February, I advertised both Cloak Games/Cloak Mage and all the Ghosts on Facebook. For Cloak Games/Cloak Mage, I got back $2.98 (USD) for every dollar spent, with 6.8% of the profit coming from the audiobooks. For the Ghosts, I got back $3.24 cents for every dollar spent, with 15.4% of the profit coming from the audiobooks. I also ran a few different Amazon ad campaigns. Remember that for an Amazon ad campaign to work, it needs to generate a sale or a complete Kindle Unlimited page readthrough for every six to eight clicks. For Half-Elven Thief, I got back $2.30 for every dollar spent, with a sale for every 0.68 clicks. In other words, we had more total sales than we had clicks. For Stealth and Spells Online: Creation, I lost $2.52 for every dollar spent, with a sale for every 8.1 clicks. For The Linux Command Line Beginner's Guide, I got back $1.86 for every dollar spent, with a sale for every one click and 32% of the month's profit coming from the audiobook. I think this shows how badly I misjudged the LitRPG market with Stealth and Spells Online. The ads for Half-Elven Thief actually get more search terms for LitRPG related searches than Stealth and Spells actually does. I ran BookBub ads for Sevenfold Sword and The Ghosts on Apple, and here's how they did. For The Ghosts, I got back $5.26 for every dollar spent. For Sevenfold Sword, I got back $4.35 for every $1 spent. Finally, for the Demonsouled series, which is currently in KU, I did a combined Facebook and Amazon campaign, and when you run multi-platform ad campaigns like that, the most valuable metric tends to be honestly money back for dollar spent. So for Demonsouled, I got back $2.58 for every dollar spent. So good results, all in all, and I didn't actually lose that much money on Stealth and Spells. So thanks for reading everyone and hopefully I'll have more good books for you to read soon.   00:05:47 Main Topic: Lessons for Writers from Barnes and Noble's Turnaround   So now onto our main topic this week, lessons for Writers from Barnes and Noble's Turnaround because it is fair to say Barnes and Noble has had a turnaround recently. For a while at the end of the 2010s and the early 2020s, people would have their self-publishing predictions for the year, and one of them was almost always that Barnes and Noble is going to finally close, which was a reversal of fortune for it because if you remember in the ‘90s and the 2000s and even the early part of the 2010s, Barnes and Noble was the juggernaut in the publishing industry. They had forced out of business a lot of smaller indie bookstores and what Barnes and Noble wanted in the publishing industry, Barnes and Noble got. Then just as Barnes and Noble disrupted all the smaller book chains and independent bookstores, Amazon came along and disrupted Barnes and Noble. And so for a while it looked like Barnes and Noble was going to go out of business, but Barnes and Noble's revenue actually grew 1.6% in fiscal year 2024, and their foot traffic is up significantly. They're planning 60 new stores after a wave of closures in previous years.   A few years ago, as I said, they seemed headed for extinction, yet a combination of unpredictable factors and good decisions helped turned around Barnes and Noble. What are some of those factors leading into it? I suspect one of them is that many people are forced to be on screens all day and can find this frustrating or stressful, especially when schooling and work were virtual. I've talked to some teachers over the past couple of years and they would tell me stories of, for example, younger children who will burst into tears at the site of a Chromebook just because the experience of remote learning via Chromebooks was so stressful and miserable in 2020 and 2021 (and places that held onto that policy for probably longer than they should have). So much socialization nowadays is conducted online too through TikToks and chats and text messages and so forth. Because of this, many now feel like print books are a break from being constantly online. Various social media people such as TikTokers and Instagrammers make Barnes and Noble trips and hauls, showing off giant stacks of the latest books, filling up feeds. Home book displays are also a trend online, as collectors show off carefully style collections of books. Owning physical books and browsing the shelves at Barnes and Noble has become cool again. Truly history is a wheel that keeps on turning.   So what lessons can you take from this turnaround as a writer (even if your physical books aren't stocked by Barnes and Noble and you don't sell that many eBooks through them)? How they approach their relationship with their readers and their customers still has a few lessons to provide writers.   #1: Focus on your primary mission and also double down on what actually works. Barnes and Noble started to devote much of their store space to a confusing, aimless mixture of toys and gifts mixed in with the books. The stores began to look cluttered and much of this merchandise did not actually sell to their customers. They also wasted a large sum of money trying to compete with Amazon, Apple, and tech companies with their Nook tablets and kept Nook ereaders as a strong store presence long after it was clear they had lost the battle for the ebook market. There was even an extremely ill-advised foray into Barnes and Noble restaurants. Customers were quick to reject $13 avocado toast and $7 oatmeal from a mall chain bookstore.   One, when the company focused on returning to selling print books and making the store a better place to browse, sales improved. Many stores moved the gifts and games away from the book areas and back into the dedicated sections, which cleaned up the layout and made it easier for customers wanting non-book items to find what they were looking for. Since most of the customers were actually there to buy books, that made it easier to buy books.   How to apply this as a writer? Your job as a writer is to create and sell books. Getting lost in side quests, like overly frequent social media posting, creating courses or webinars, and selling merchandises are only taking time away from what your readers actually want the most from you: more books. So double down on writing more books, just as Barnes Noble doubled down on selling more books.   #2: Target the right people. Barnes Noble's display spaces and tables were taken up by books that publishers paid to place there. This led to their prime store space being taken up by books that were often poor sellers or not a good fit for their local customers. It was better to turn down the short-term money but have more targeted displays, including putting similar books in “thematic nooks.”   By focusing much of their marketing on the BookTok/Bookstagram groups of heavy readers, they were able to find ways to appeal to a younger and growing customer base. Since this group loves books both as content and décor, showcasing exclusive or “aesthetic” special editions was a way to bring these customers back into the store and keep them from buying cheaper copies online. These readers were also willing to spend a few dollars extra for the experience and to ensure that the books they were buying weren't damaged, which is often a complaint when you buy books online, that they sometimes aren't packaged properly and arrive damaged in transit. Store space was also devoted to manga readers, another group that reads voraciously and enjoys the experience of reading the print version and later collecting the print version as opposed to the electronic one.   Now, how do you apply this as a writer? Appeal to your core audience. Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, find your core “thematic nook” (as Barnes Noble puts it), meaning similar authors and titles. There are resources like Publisher Rocket that can help you do this. Focus your advertising on finding these readers instead of the general population.   For myself, I've experienced this lesson personally in the last four years because in the last four years I've tried three different new things: The Cormac Rogan Mysteries, the Stealth and Spells LitRPG book, and the Rivah Half-Elven series. And of the three, Rivah was by far the most successful because it was another form of epic fantasy, which I think is what my core audience really wants from me and not contemporary mysteries or LitRPG. So this is the lesson I can attest to through personal experience.   #3: Give customers a good experience. Barnes and Noble spent money on repainting, installing brighter lighting, and changing store layouts. The CEO James Daunt stated it was their aim to make the store feels like “places of discovery.” Chairs were even added back to some stores to allow readers to browse in comfort.   Now, how can you apply this to being a writer? First, you want to make sure that your readers have the easiest possible experience, the most pleasant possible experience in buying books from you. One way to do this is keep your website updated and check for broken links, which is easier said than done. I know, especially for me since Ghost in the Assembly will be my 160th novel, and that is a lot of links to check and my website had gotten complex enough that I finally hired someone to overhaul it and make sure all the links were working. But I think we've had good results since traffic is up and I get much fewer complaints now about dead links. It's often a good idea to refresh ad images to keep potential readers' attention. For Facebook ads, I think based on my experience, the best you can hope for is two to three weeks of good results with a single image. For BookBub, maybe three or four days. So it's good to have a supply of ad images you can rotate out often. Finally, incentivize readers to read your newsletter by keeping it brief and providing some kind of special reward, like a discount or bonus content, which is why I give away a lot of short stories in my email newsletter.   #4: Be willing to change it up or try new things. Barnes and Noble's leadership also ceded more control of the selection and displays to the individual stores, allowing them to better customize the stores towards the taste of the community. For most of Barnes and Noble's history, if you walked into the store and you saw the displays in the front and on the end caps where books were highlighted. Publishers paid through the nose for the privilege of having their books stocked that way. And while there is still some of that, obviously the new regime at Barnes and Noble has changed things around so that more local stores have greater control of what to put where, which means they can put out more books that their local community is more likely to buy. If you walk into a Barnes and Noble in Illinois, for example, you're much more likely to see a large display of Illinois local history than you would have otherwise.   For another example, I once visited a Barnes and Noble in a large suburb that had a very large teenage population that had the Young Adult section wedged in a single cramped back corner by the bathrooms. It was extremely unpleasant to browse, especially if one person was already in the aisle. And of course, if there was a line for the bathroom, which is often the case, teenagers typically want more physical space from strangers. This decision to put the Young Adult section in a cramped corner in the back of the store was clearly made by someone who did not a lot of experience talking to or working with teenagers. After Daunt's changes, Young Adult was moved to the center of the store. The aisles in the new section were extra wide to accommodate groups of teens browsing together, and it was now full of colorful displays, many of which were handmade by staff members. In the times I visited this Barnes and Noble since, it is always the busiest part of the store.   Another surprise area of growth was the refreshing of the stationery and planner section. The previous selection was stale and heavily reliant on older licensed properties like Disney. It wasn't reflective of the trends in the category being popularized (once again by Instagram and TikTok), such as dot grid notebooks with high quality paper and guided journals (like the influencer favorite, the Five Minute Journal, which offers a few brief prompts to reflect on the day). Barnes and Noble bought the stationery brand Paper Source, which brought in fresh designs to its cards and stationery. They also changed their selection to adapt to two of the biggest trends in stationery, bullet journaling and customizable Japanese planners. Stationery enthusiasts were willing to pay a premium to be able to see stationery items in person before buying, since that allows you to avoid counterfeit versions that are sold online and ensure that the product was in pristine condition and would not arrive through the mail damaged. Since the margins on stationery are way higher than they are in books, this was a wise decision.   Now how can we apply this lesson as a writer? One of the advantages of being self-published is the ability to change quickly based on data and reader feedback. For example, the Stealth and Spells Online series was originally called the Sevenfold Sword Online. Once I realized that readers were confusing this series with the main Sevenfold Sword series, I changed the title to help prevent confusion and emphasized that the series was in fact a separate one. I also changed the cover to reflect trends in the LitRPG series, such as characters' faces usually not being shown and a more diffused, animation-influenced color palette.   If one of your books isn't connecting with readers, it may be worth your time to update your blurb and cover trends based on your categories. Another similar experience I had was with the Silent Order covers where I went through five different iterations with that cover before I settled on the version I have now, which definitely sells the best.     #5: Do what Amazon can't. The new CEO of Barnes and Noble focused on what Amazon couldn't do: provide a physical environment for browsing.  Browsing aisles of books with a cup of coffee (from the Barnes and Noble Café) in hand is a relaxing experience for many people. Amazon famously tried to set up its own chain of physical bookstores, and it didn't work out because the experience for customers tended to be industrial and unpleasant in a way that made an airport newsstand seem downright cozy in comparison. The bookstores were stocked with just a very limited selection of popular books on plain shelves with electronic price tags. Nothing about it inspired browsing or finding new books, the most important way physical bookstores inspire readers to buy additional books.   This was an example of Amazon doing the opposite of our first lesson. Rather than doubling down on what was working, they tried something that was away from their core competency of low prices and fast delivery, which was a physical bookstore. In fact, one of these Amazon bookstores opened across the street from author Ann Patchett's Parnassus books, which is an indie bookstore in Nashville that provides lots of help from friendly, knowledgeable staff, autographed books from authors like Patchett, and a full calendar of events with local authors. Reviewers who have visited this indie bookstore rave about the friendly and helpful staff and the cozy atmosphere. Even though Parnassus offered higher prices than the Amazon bookstore across the street, the experience was so much better that it's not surprising that the Amazon bookstore did not work and that Parnassus outlasted this physical Amazon bookstore that opened across the street. As many people have found out the hard way, it is very difficult to compete with Amazon on price. Instead of constantly discounting books with buy two get one free promotions or providing steep discounts through its membership program, Barnes and Noble stopped trying to compete with Amazon on price and turned their attention to something that Amazon couldn't do, which is the physical experience of the store. Events like children's story times and special events (complete with gift bags) for popular releases like Onyx Storm brought in people who hadn't been to a physical store in a while.   Now, the point of this isn't to indulge in Amazon bashing because Amazon does get criticized a lot, sometimes fairly, sometimes not fairly. The point is that trying to compete with Amazon on its core competencies of low price and fast delivery is not a good idea. And so instead, you need to try and find a way to do something well that Amazon can't do or Amazon isn't interested in doing. Even if Amazon remains a big part of your business as an indie writer, you can diversify your profits and readership by looking beyond Amazon.   What can't Amazon do for your readers? You can engage with your readers directly through your newsletter and social media. That's why I try to post at least once a day and respond to comments when possible. You can find ways to provide special content for loyal readers, which I do personally in the form of free short stories, discounts, Coupon of the Week (which we always talk about every week). Giveaways, et cetera provide something that Amazon can't or won't. For example, direct sales platforms like my Payhip store can provide DRM free ebook files, multiple file formats with each purchase, and special bonus content for readers buying direct and so forth. If you buy a book off My Payhip store, you can download the epub file and a PDF file, which you can't do from Amazon anymore.   On a related note, give people who don't want to buy from Amazon a place to buy your books, whether that be other ebook vendors or your own direct sales page (or ideally both). I should mention that personally of my (soon to be) 160 books, only 14% of them are currently on Kindle Unlimited (which means Amazon exclusivity), which is a fortunate position I'm able to be in because Kindle Unlimited is also a big part of the market. I'm able to essentially play in both worlds where I have the majority of my series available wide (and available on my Payhip store with files and the other things we were talking about), while also providing some books for Kindle Unlimited readers, which also is a big part of the pool. I'm fortunate enough to be able to play in both worlds there and continue to do that.   To sum up, Barnes and Noble recovered by focusing on what it does best and finding the people who respond best to that. As a writer, I think your main focus should be on putting out new books and targeting your advertising is the best way to make that approach work for you. If you have a long series, it might be a good idea to make the first book free and advertise that if you want to connect more with your readers, giving away short stories is a good way to do that, especially in your newsletter. So to sum up, perhaps the best way forward for all writers is to remain flexible and to double down on your core competencies and core strengths.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com, often with transcripts. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.  

This week on the CritRPG Podcast, Sean Dunning joins us for a truly wonderful episode. He's a thought- and insightful guest, and we spent far more time than usual talking about plotting, writing, and many other topics!Please check out Sean's books here:https://amzn.to/3FfU2IC (Affiliate link!)-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

For this episode of Season 4, I had the pleasure of interviewing fantasy, science fiction, and LitRPG author David R. Packer. We had a great time chatting about his writing, how he got started in Tao Wong's System Apocalypse Universe, and his love of telling stories. We had a terrific time chatting about his stories, characters, and inspirations for his craft. Make sure to check out his book and social links in the space below and as always please don't forget to subscribe to our Youtube Channel! Author Amazon Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=David+R.+Packer&i=audible&ref=dp_byline_sr_audible_2 Starlit Publishing Page: https://starlitpublishing.com/collections/david-r-packer?srsltid=AfmBOoophMjuxR067ujrMP5gq3Br9plvcwIUvKB62xNkj5inTDmT11dD Author's Website: https://boxwrestlefence.com/ Podcast Channel Links: Patreon: patreon.com/TFSFP Website: https://thefantasyandscififanaticspod.com/ Youtube Channel Subscription: https://youtube.com/@thefantasyandsci-fifanatic2328 Rss.com: https://media.rss.com/thefantasyandsci-fifanaticspodcast/feed.xml Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aCCUhora9GdLAduLaaqiu?si=cl-8VWgaSrOGDwJg-cKONQ Discord Server: https://discord.gg/zd6mj2rQ Facebook Group join link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/402724958101648/?ref=share

In this week's episode, we continue our discuss about how seeking prestige can be dangerous for writers, specifically in the form of traditional publishing and the New York Times Bestseller list. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Shield of the Knight, Book #2 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store: DRAGONSHIELD50 The coupon code is valid through March 21, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 241 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February 28th, 2025. Today we are continuing our discussion of how to escape the trap of prestige for writers, specifically traditional publishing and The New York Times Bestseller List. Before we get to our main topic, we will do Coupon of the Week, an update on my current writing and audiobook projects, and then Question of the Week.   This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Shield of the Knight, Book Two in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store. That coupon code is DRAGONSHIELD50. As always, I'll include the coupon code and the link to the store in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through March 21st, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook as we start to head into the spring months, we have got you covered. Now an update on my current writing projects. I'm pleased to report I am done with the rough draft of Ghost in the Assembly. I came in at 106,000 words, so it'll definitely be over a hundred thousand words when it's done. I'm about 20% of the way through the first round of edits, so I am confident in saying that if all goes well and nothing unexpected happens, I am on track to have it out in March. I am also 10,000 words into Shield of Battle, which will be the fifth of six books in the Shield War series and I'm hoping to have that out in April, if all goes well.   In audiobook news, recording for both Cloak of Dragonfire and Orc-Hoard is done. I'm just waiting for them to get through the processing on the various stores so they're available. There is also an audiobook edition of Half Elven Thief Omnibus One and Cloak Mage Omnibus Three that hopefully should be coming in March. More news with that to come.   00:01:55 Question of the Week   Now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's question: what is your favorite subgenre of fantasy, high fantasy, epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, historical fantasy, urban fantasy, LitRPG, cultivation, or something else? No wrong answers, obviously.   Cindy says: Epic fantasy or those with a good history for that world. The Ghost Series are fantastic at this.   Thanks, Cindy.   Justin says: I enjoy all those sub-genres, if they are done well. In times past I would've said comic fantasy, but that is because Terry Pratchett at his best was just that good.   Mary says: High fantasy.   Surabhi says: I'd honestly read anything fantasy that's written well and has characters I'm attached to, given that it's not too gritty. Bonus points if there's humor! Also, I love your books so much and they're the perfect blend of fantasy, adventure, and characters. Your books were what really got me into Sword and Sorcery.   Thanks, Surabhi.     Matthew says: See, that's difficult. I love my sabers, both light and metal. I would say urban fantasy crosses the boundary the most. If it's a captivating story, it will be read.   John F says: I can't choose one- Lord of the Rings or LWW, The Inheritance Cycle, The Dresden Files, Caina, Ridmark, or Nadia. I think what draws me is great characters who grow. The setting/genre is just the device. That's why I keep coming back to your books. You create great characters.   Thanks, John F.   John K says: I think I'm partial to historical fantasy. I enjoy all genres, but when I think of my favorites, they tend to be derivations of historical settings. Think Guy Gavriel Kay or Miles Cameron. That said, I was weaned on Robert E. Howard, Fritz Lieber, Michael Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner, Jack Vance, so a strong sword and sorcery second place.   Juana says: High fantasy. Belgariad, Tolkien, dragons, et cetera.   Jonathan says: Sword and sorcery in space! Prehistoric sword and sorcery, sword and sorcery always.   Quint: says Sword and sorcery!   Michael says: Sword and sorcery.   For myself, I think I would agree with our last couple of commenters and it would be sword and sorcery. My ideal fantasy novel has a barbarian hero wandering from corrupt city state to corrupt city state messing up the business of some evil wizards. I'm also very fond of what's called generic fantasy (if a fighter, a dwarf, an elf, and a wizard are going into a dungeon and fighting some orcs, I'm happy).   00:04:18 Main Topic of the Week: Escaping the Prestige Trap, Part 2   Now onto our main topic for the week, Escaping the Prestige Trap, Part 2, and we'll focus on traditional publishing and the New York Times Bestseller List this week. As we talked about last week, much of the idea of success, especially in the United States, is based on hitting certain milestones in a specific order. In the writing world, these measures of success have until fairly recently been getting an MFA, finding an agent, getting traditionally published, and hitting The New York Times Bestseller List. Last week we talked about the risks of an MFA and an agent. This week, we are going to talk about two more of those writing markers of prestige, getting traditionally published and having a book land on The New York Times Bestseller List. Why are they no longer as important? What should you devote your energy and focus to instead?   So let's start with looking at getting traditionally published. Most writers have dreamed of seeing their book for sale and traditional publishing for a long time has been the only route to this path. Until about 15 years ago, traditional publishing was the way that a majority of authors made their living. Now that big name authors like Hugh Howie, Andy Weir, and Colleen Hoover have had success starting as self-published authors (or in the case of authors Sarah J. Maas and Ali Hazelwood, fan fiction authors) and then are getting traditional publishing deals made for them for their self-published works. It's proof that self-publishing is no longer a sign that the author isn't good enough to be published traditionally. Previous to the rise of the Kindle, that was a common belief that if you were self-published, it was because you were not good enough to get traditionally published. That was sort of this pernicious belief that traditional publishing was a meritocracy, when in fact it tended to be based on who you knew. But that was all 15 years ago and now we are well into the age of self-publishing. Why do authors still want to be traditionally published when in my frank opinion, self-publishing is the better path? Well, I think there are three main reasons for that.   One of the main reasons is that the authors say they want to be traditionally published is to have someone else handle the marketing and the advertising. They don't realize how meager marketing budgets and staffing support are, especially for unknown authors. Many traditionally published authors are handling large portions of their own marketing and hiring publicists out of their own pocket because publishers are spending much less on marketing. The new reality is that traditional publishers aren't going to do much for you as a debut author unless you are already a public figure.   Even traditionally published authors are not exempt from having to do their own marketing now. James Patterson set up an entire company himself to handle his marketing. Though, to be fair to James Patterson, his background was in advertising before he came into publishing, so he wasn't exactly a neophyte in the field, but you see more and more traditionally published authors who you think would be successful just discontented with the system and starting to dabble in self-publishing or looking at alternative publishers like Aethon Books and different arrangements of publishing because the traditional system is just so bad for writers. The second main reason authors want to be traditionally published is that they want to avoid the financial burden of publishing. This is an outdated way of thinking. The barrier to publishing these days is not so much financial as it is knowledge. In fact, I published a book entirely using free open source software in 2017 just to prove that it could be done. It was Silent Order: Eclipse Hand, the fourth book in my science fiction series. I wrote it on Ubuntu using Libre Office and I edited it in Libre Office and I did the formatting on Ubuntu and I did the cover in the GIMP, which is a free and open source image editing program. This was all using free software and I didn't have to pay for the program. Obviously I had to pay for the computer I was using and the Internet connection, but in the modern era, having an internet connection is in many ways almost a requirement, so that's the cost you would be paying anyway.   The idea that you must spend tens of thousands of dollars in formatting, editing, cover, and marketing comes from scammy self-publishing services. Self-publishing, much like traditional publishing, has more than its fair share of scams or from people who aren't willing to take the time to learn these skills and just want to cut someone a check to solve the problem. There are many low cost and effective ways to learn these skills and resources designed specifically for authors. People like Joanna Penn have free videos online explaining how to do this, and as I've said, a lot of the software you can use to self-publish is either free or low cost, and you can get some very good programs like Atticus or Vellum or Jutoh for formatting eBooks for very low cost.   The third reason that writers want to be traditionally published is that many believe they will get paid more this way, which is, unless you are in the top 1% of traditionally published authors, very wrong. Every so often, there's a study bemoaning the fact that most publishers will only sell about $600 worth of any individual book, and that is true of a large percentage of traditionally published books. Traditional publishers typically pay a lump sum called advance, and then royalties based on sales. An average advance is about the same as two or three months of salary from an office job and so not a reflection of the amount of time it typically takes most authors to finish a book. Most books do not earn out their advance, which means the advance is likely to be the only money the author receives for the book. Even well-known traditionally published authors are not earning enough to support themselves as full-time authors. So as you can see, all three of these reasons are putting a lot of faith in traditional publishers, faith that seems increasingly unnecessary or downright misplaced. I think it is very healthy to get rid of the idea that good writing comes from traditional publishers and that the prestige of being traditionally published is the only way you'll be accepted as a writer or be able to earn a living as a full-time writer. I strongly recommend that people stop thinking that marketing is beneath you as an author or too difficult to learn. Whether you are indie or tradpub, you are producing a product that you want to sell, thus you are a businessperson. The idea that only indie authors have to sell their work is outdated. The sooner you accept this reality, the more options you will have. Self-publishing and indie publishing are admittedly more work. However, the benefits are significant. Here are five benefits of self-publishing versus traditional publishing.   The first advantage of self-publishing is you have complete creative control. You decide what the content of your book will be; you decide what the cover will be. If you don't want to make the covers yourself or you don't want to learn how to do that, you can very affordably hire someone to do it for you and they will make the cover exactly to your specifications. You also have more freedom to experiment with cross-genre books. As I've mentioned before, publishers really aren't a fan of cross genre books until they make a ton of money, like the new romantasy trend.   Traditional publishing is very trend driven and cautious. Back in the 2000s before I gave up on traditional publishing and discovered self-publishing, I would submit to agents a lot. Agents all had these guidelines for fantasy saying that they didn't want to see stories with elves and orcs and dwarves and other traditional fantasy creatures because they thought that was passe. Well, when I started self-publishing, I thought I'm going to write a traditional fantasy series with elves and orcs and dwarves and other traditional fantasy creatures just because I can and Frostborn has been my bestselling series of all time in the time I've been self-publishing, so you can see the advantages of having creative control.   The second advantage is you can control the marketing. Tradpub authors often sign a contract that they'll get their social media and website content approved by the publisher before posting. They may even be given boilerplate or pre-written things to post. In self-publishing, you have real time data to help you make decisions and adjust ads and overall strategy on the fly to maximize revenue. For example, if one of your books is selling strangely well on Google Play, it's time to adjust BookBub ads to focus on that platform instead of Amazon.   You can also easily change your cover, your blurb, and so forth after release. I've changed covers of some of my books many times trying to optimize them for increased sales and that is nearly impossible to do with traditional publishing. And in fact, Brandon Sanderson gave a recent interview where he talked about how the original cover of his Mistborn book was so unrelated to the content of the book that it almost sunk the book and hence his career.   You also have the ability to run ad campaigns as you see fit, not just an initial launch like tradpub does. For example, in February 2025, I've been heavily advertising my Demonsouled series even though I finished writing that series back in 2013, but I've been able to increase sales and derive a significant profit from those ads.   A third big advantage is that you get a far greater share of the profits. Most of the stores, if you price an ebook between $2.99 (prices are USD) and $9.99, you will get 70% of the sale price, which means if you sell an ebook for $4.99, you're probably going to get about $3.50 per sale (depending on currency fluctuations and so forth). That is vastly more than you would get from any publishing contract.   You also don't have to worry about the publisher trying to cheat you out of royalties. We talked about an agency stealing money last episode. Every platform you publish your book on, whether Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Smashwords and Apple will give you a monthly spreadsheet of your sales and then you can look at it for yourself, see exactly how many books you sold and exactly how much money you're going to get. I have only very rarely seen traditional publishing royalty statements that are as clear and have as much data in them as a spreadsheet from Google Play or Amazon. A fourth advantage is you don't have to worry about publishers abandoning you mid-series. In traditional publishing, there is what's called the Publishing Death Spiral where let's say an author is contracted to write a series of five books. The author writes the first book and it sells well. Then the author publishes the second book and it doesn't sell quite as well, but the publisher is annoyed enough by the decrease in sales that they drop the writer entirely and don't finish the series. This happens quite a bit in the traditional publishing world, and you don't have to worry about that in indie publishing because you can just publish as often as you want. If you're not happy with the sales of the first few books in the series, you can change the covers, try ad campaigns, and other strategies.   Finally, you can publish as often as you want and when you want. In traditional publishing, there is often a rule of thumb that an author should only publish one book a year under their name. Considering that last year I published 10 books under my name, that seems somewhat ridiculous, but that's a function of the fact that traditional publishing has only so much capacity and the pieces of the machine involved there are slow and not very responsive. Whereas with self-publishing, you have much more freedom and everything involved with it is much more responsive. There's no artificial deadlines, so you can take as long as you want to prepare it and if the book is ready, you don't have to wait a year to put it out because it would mess up the publisher's schedule.   So what to do instead of chasing traditional publishing? Learn about self-publishing, especially about scams and bad deals related to it. Publish your own works by a platform such as KDP, Barnes and Noble Press, Kobo Writing Life, Apple Books, Google Play, Smashwords, and possibly your own Payhip and/or Shopify store.   Conquer your fear of marketing and advertising. Even traditionally published authors are shouldering more of this work and paying out of their own pocket to hire someone to do it, and if you are paying your own marketing costs, you might as well self-publish and keep a greater share of the profits. The second half of our main topic, another potential risk of prestige, is getting on The New York Times Bestseller List. I should note that I suppose someone could accuse me of sour grapes here saying, oh, Jonathan Moeller, you've never been on The New York Times Bestseller List. You must just be bitter about it. That is not true. I do not want to be on The New York Times Bestseller List. What I would like to be is a number one Amazon bestseller. Admittedly though, that's unlikely, but a number one Amazon bestseller would make a lot more money than a number one New York Times Bestseller List, though because of the way it works, if you are a number one Amazon bestseller, you might be a New York Times Bestseller, but you might not. Let's get into that now.   Many writers have the dream of seeing their name on the New York Times Bestseller List. One self-help guru wrote about “manifesting” this milestone for herself by writing out the words “My book is number one on The New York Times Bestseller List” every day until it happened. Such is the mystique of this milestone that many authors crave it as a necessity. However, this list has seen challenges to its prestige in recent years. The one thing that shocks most people when they dig into the topic is that the list is not an objective list based on the raw number of books sold. The list is “editorial content” and The New York Times can exclude, include, or rank the books on the list however they choose.   What it does not capture is perennial sellers or classics. For example, the Bible and the Quran are obviously some of the bestselling books of all time, but you won't see editions of the Bible or the Quran on the New York Times Bestseller List. Textbooks and classroom materials, I guarantee there are some textbooks that are standards in their field that would be on the bestseller list every year, but they're not because The New York Times doesn't track them. Ebooks available only from a single vendor such as Kindle Unlimited books, ebook sales from not reporting vendors such as Shopify or Payhip. Reference Works including test prep guides (because I guarantee when test season comes around the ACT and SAT prep guides or the GRE prep guides sell a lot of copies) and coloring books or puzzle books.  It would be quite a blow to the authors on the list to realize that if these excluded works were included on the list, they would in all likelihood be consistently below To Kill a Mockingbird, SAT prep books, citation manuals, Bibles/other religious works, and coloring books about The Eras Tour.   Publishers, political figures, religious groups, and anyone with enough money can buy their way into the rank by purchasing their books in enormous quantities. In fact, it's widely acknowledged in the United States that this is essentially a legal form of bribery and a bit of money laundering too, where a publisher will give a truly enormous advance to a public figure or politician that they like, and that advance will essentially be a payment to that public figure in the totally legal form of an enormous book advance that isn't going to pay out. Because this is happening with such frequency, The New York Times gave into the pressure to acknowledge titles suspected of this strategy with a special mark next to it on the list. However, these books remain on the list and can still be called a New York Times Bestseller.   Since the list is not an objective marker of sales and certainly not some guarantee of quality, why focus on making it there? I think trying to get your book on The New York Times Bestseller List would be an enormous waste of time, since the list is fundamentally an artificial construction that doesn't reflect sales reality very well.   So what can you do instead? Focus on raw sales numbers and revenue, not lists. Even Amazon's bestseller category lists have a certain amount of non-quantitative factors. In the indie author community, there's a saying called Bank not Rank, which means you should focus on how much revenue your books are actually generating instead of whatever sales rank they are on whatever platform. I think that's a wiser approach to focus your efforts.   You can use lists like those from Publishers Weekly instead if you're interested in what's selling or trends in the industry, although that too can be manipulated and these use only a fairly small subset of data that favors retail booksellers, but it's still more objective in measuring than The New York Times.   I suppose in the end, you should try and focus on ebook and writing activities that'll bring you actual revenue or satisfaction rather than chasing the hollow prestige of things like traditional publishing, agents, MFAs, and The New York Times Bestseller List.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

This week on the CritRPG Podcast, I am joined by Matthew P. Schmidt. In one of our most earnest podcasts to date, we talk about Faith, Fame, and Fear, and what they can do to a person. Please Check out Matthew's books herehttps://amzn.to/43g9mPk (Affiliate link!)-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

For this episode of Season 4 I had the pleasure of interviewing LitRPG author Jason J. Willis. We had a terrific chat about his experiences writing in Tao Wong's System Apocalypse universe, what it is like having a co-author, and writing interesting characters within a genre. Make sure you check out Jason's books through his social links below and make sure to check out his co-authored book with Tao Wong-Head of the Class! This one is on my 2025 Reading List so make sure to check out that two part video and don't forget to subscribe to our Youtube Channel! Author Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0CWPKZDG6 Publisher's Website: https://starlitpublishing.com/collections/jason-j-willis Author Goodreads Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/34106703.Jason_J_Willis Podcast Channel Links: Patreon: patreon.com/TFSFP Website: https://thefantasyandscififanaticspod.com/ Youtube Channel Subscription: https://youtube.com/@thefantasyandsci-fifanatic2328 Rss.com: https://media.rss.com/thefantasyandsci-fifanaticspodcast/feed.xml Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aCCUhora9GdLAduLaaqiu?si=cl-8VWgaSrOGDwJg-cKONQ Discord Server: https://discord.gg/zd6mj2rQ Facebook Group join link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/402724958101648/?ref=share

Se acaba febrero y con el dejo aquí mi diario de audio, hoy en abierto. Os hablo de aglomeraciones de cumpleaños, LitRPG, el homenaje a 2Tone de Steven Knight y de que Wu Tang Is Forever, entre otras cosas.

This week on the CritRPG Podcast, I am joined by Uranium Phoenix, author of The Years of Apocalypse.Join us as we talk about creating believable characters, writing to market, and the importance of finding your own process.https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/81002/the-years-of-apocalypse-a-time-loop-progression-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

We had a lot of technical difficulties at the beginning. This week it is just Kr0nus and Blue, this week we talk about SF Beer Week, Kendrick vs Drake, Dirty Stu, Kendricks halftime show, Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman, Solo Leveling, LitRPG books, and more! Come follow us: http://www.beenhadproductions.com/bthanbti SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bthanbtiI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BthanBTI/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/bthanbti Twitter: @BthanBTI iTunes: https://itun.es/i6SJ6Pw YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BlackerThanBlackTimesInfinity Rescue + Residence https://www.rescueresidence.org/ Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=34F4G4ZXQL8FA

Time till floor collapse: 56 minutes... Just kidding!! Come crawl into the world of 'Dungeon Crawler Carl', a thrilling and humorous LitRPG novel that blends adventure, humor, and a dash of gaming culture. Join us as we explore the journey of an average guy who finds himself trapped in a dystopian game world filled with deadly monsters, quirky allies, and high-stakes challenges. We discuss the unique elements of the LitRPG genre, the insane plot details that keep readers hooked, and lots of Princess Donut fangirl-ing. Whether you're a fan of video games, epic fantasy, or just looking for a fun read, be sure to tune in for spoiler-filled discussions. It's a wild one. This author gets the three of us absolutely gagged and gooped.

Go and read Draka.Do it.https://amzn.to/3CTbdik-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Timestamps: Why and how this book? 1:48Best Advice you ever got as a writer? 9:53One thing you would do differently in a new story? 21:56One book that you love, and why is it awesome? 50:37Shoutouts 59:24Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

This week on the CritRPG podcast I talk with Quill & Still author Aaron Sofaer AKA Pastafarian about defining success in writing, utopias that are what they seem, psychopath MCs, and, as always, how important it is to have a spouse with a good job.-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Aaron's BooksQuill & StillAnd They Who Fall Shall Rest In PowerIsekai'd Again With My Himbo Hubby, Our Mischief Gremlin Daughter, And My Cheat SRD: A FIFTH EDITION COMPATIBLE litRPGFrameshiftDie A Million Deaths; or, Get In The Interdimensional Mech, Nerd, There's No Time To ExplainBooks MentionedThis Used to Be About DungeonsThe Curse of ChalionBeware of ChickenHe Who Fights with MonstersThe Weirkey ChroniclesManifest FantasyGuild Mage ApprenticeDungeon Core OnlineZero Sum GameCommonwealThe Daily GrindFoxfire EsquireSunspotSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

In this special episode of Radio Labyrinth Presents: Interviews, we sit down with the one and only Jeff Hays, the voice behind the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook series!

Send us a textHello dragon fans, and welcome back to another episode of World of Dragons!  Admittedly, it has been quite a while since our last upload, but part of that is due to Rei wanting to read multiple books at once for a review.  This episode we're reviewing the Dragon Sorcerer series, by Sean Oswald.  The first book of the series is Claws Out, and was the book we had Bantam read to give his impressions, Rei decided to read ahead so he could let you dragon fans know if this was going to be another betrayal, like the Dragon Friend series was (minor rant included in the episode).Join us as we discuss the first dragon shifter book that Rei has enjoyed, and actually considers to be a good book with the shifting being useful and not a cheap way to hide the dragon.  Rei has a lot of good things to say about the series, and we even have a few tangents included for different tropes, what fun!If you stick around after the ending music, Rei will comment on a few plot points that happen in later books, so big fat SPOILER warning for that, but he will do so with the intent of letting you listeners who are on the fence or nervous about the course of the book know if its going to go into territory that would disappoint you.  For example, if the book 4 the dragon was going to give up his dragonhood and be human forever (he doesn't) that's the kind of thing he would spoil so you don't get blindsided and betrayed. Twitter: @OfficialWODPODEmail: wodpodcastmail@gmail.comPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/worldofdragonspodcast Discord - https://discord.gg/Kfjh74aqn2

On this episode of the CritRPG Podcast I talk with Dungeon Core Online Author Ryn, AKA Jonathan Smidt to talk about streaming, drinking and the Wild West. -------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Ryn's SeriesElemental DungeonDungeon Core OnlineElemental GunslingerResonance: D.E.D. ExorcistAcedBooks MentionedHe Who Fights With MonstersDungeon Crawler CarlHeretical FishingBeware of ChickenFirth ChroniclesElf EmpireMimic & MeEverybody Loves Large ChestsSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

This week on the CritRPG Podcast I talk with Guild Mage author David Niemitz about dealing with negative reviews, German vs Middle English etymology and the differences between East coast and West coast niceness!-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------David's SeriesGuild MageThe Faerie KnightBooks MentionedCoralineArkwrightSevenevesThe Unexpected Engagement of the Marvellous Mr. PennThe Complicated Lovelife of Ivil AntagonistAve Xia Rem YSexy Space BabesSexy Steampunk BabesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

I sit down with Runic Artist author Ellake to talk about how he's planning his upcoming transition to full-time authorship, and of course, how his wife has helped him in this pivot. -------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links herehttps://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Ellake's SeriesThe Runic ArtistBooks MentionedCradleThresholdStargazer's WarDemon Card EnforcerSystem BreakerRed RisingPath of AscentionQuest AcademyCyberdreamsVictor of TucsonFalling with Folded WingsA Journey of Black and RedChanglingCalamitous BobThe Legend of William OhSylEdge of ApocalypseCorpo AgeDungeon Crawler CarlThe Wandering InnSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

Welcome to our second RPG review through the lens of LitRPG! We hope you enjoy it. Please check out these links from the episode: Star Trek Adventures 2e Starter Set Star Trek Adventures 2e Core Rulebook Welcome to Dice in Mind, a podcast hosted by Bradley Browne and Jason A. Kaufman to explore the intersection of life, games, science, music, philosophy, and creativity through interviews with leading creatives. All are welcome in this space. Royalty-free music "Night Jazz Beats" courtesy of flybirdaudio.

I sit down with author Eric Ugland to discuss additive writing, fighting ADHD as a writer, and the value of marriage.-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links here:https://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Books mentionedEric's BooksOne More Last TimeThe Good GuysThe Bad GuysCommander and Thief Menagerie of MayhemBooks MentionedHe Who Fights with MonstersDungeon Crawler CarlKaiiu Battlefield SurgeonBeware of ChickenHeretical FishingQuest AcademyCradleGideon the NinthThe Locked Tomb TrilogyThe Red KnightDiscount DanThe Daily GrindWayspring WandererAge of ExpansionPrimeval ApocalypseRandidly Ghost TownThe Road -------------------------------------------Why and how this book? 1:20Best Advice you ever got as a writer? 8:11One thing you would do differently in a new story? 22:36One book that you love, and why is it awesome 40:47Shoutouts 50:32Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

This week on the CritRPG Podcast I sit down with J Pal to talk about what motivates him to write, and the community of litRPG authors that we're both privileged to be a part of!-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links here:https://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Books mentionedJ's BooksApocalypse ArenaDepartment of Dungeon StudiesHoundsmanBooks MentionedCradleEnder's GameHedge WizardNever Die Twice-------------------------------------------Why and how this book? 12:58Best Advice you ever got as a writer? 19:30One thing you would do differently in a new story? 43:48One book that you love, and why is it awesome? 55:25Shoutouts 59:16Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

In this week's episode, I take a look back at my writing goals for 2024 and see how many I met, and look ahead to my writing goals for 2025. 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 232 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is December the 20th, 2024 and today we're looking back to see if I met my writing goals for 2024 and looking ahead to see what my writing goals will be in 2025. This will also be the last episode of 2024 so I can take a few days off for Christmas and New Year's, so tune back in 2025 for some more exciting episodes.   In the meantime, we'll start with an update on my current writing projects and then do Question of the Week. My main project right now is Shield of Deception, the fourth book in the Shield War series. I am at 33,000 words into it as of this recording, which if my math is right means I'm about 24% of the way through the rough draft. I'm hoping that will come out in January, but there's good chance it will slip to February because I'm think it's going to be pretty long. My secondary project right now is Ghost in the Assembly and I am 2,000 words into that and I'm hoping to have that out in February, but if Shield of Deception slips to February, then it'll probably be out in March.   In audio news, recording for Cloak of Masks, the eighth Cloak Mage book, is nearly done and I expect to have some files to proof for that before much longer. That will be narrated by Hollis McCarthy. Leanne Woodward has started working on the audiobook version of Orc Hoard, so both of those should be coming along shortly in 2025. So that's where I'm at with my current writing and audiobook projects.   00:01:34 Question of the Week   And now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is designed to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question: what is your favorite movie or TV version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens? No wrong answers, obviously. The inspiration for this question was I was scrolling through movies on various streaming services and of course this time of year you can watch a billion different versions of A Christmas Carol.   Todd says: my personal favorite of A Christmas Carol is from 1971. This animated classic had the original Scrooge and Marley actors voice the respective characters. Another Christmas television program would also have to be Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas. It's got Frank Oz!   I have to admit, I have never heard of Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas before this comment.   Justin says: I would have to say the 1951 version with Alastair Sim, although the Muppets are a close second.   Bonnie says: This is one of my hubby's favorite Christmas traditions. Unsure of how many different versions we have. His two are American Christmas Carol with Henry Winkler and the George C. Scott one. I like the Albert Finney musical version and the Alastair Sim one. Paul says: Yes, sentimental favorite is the George C. Scott version from 1984. I like the version with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge as well. We'll watch many versions through the season if I see them on. The Muppet version is great as well. Not a fan of the Jim Carey cartoon version. It is okay, but prefer the first three mentioned.   Andrew says: The Muppet version is the best.   Randy says: Another vote for Kermit here! “Light the lamp, not the rat!”   Jenny says:  OMG Yes, the Muppet's version!   Jeremiah says: Alastair Sim version for classic and modern, the Patrick Stewart version.   Catriona says: The Muppets- just iconic!   Gary says: The Muppets.   Tom says: Yes, A Muppet's Christmas Carol, nothing else comes close.   Becca says: Muppets   Tracy says: I like the one with Patrick Stewart.   For myself, I pretty much closely agree with the commenters here. I think my sentimental favorite is the George C. Scott version from 1984, since that's the one I used to watch when I was younger. Rewatching it as an adult, it's impressive how Scott doesn't even attempt a British accent. It's actually rather surprising that his version of Scrooge is actually pretty funny, with a dry wit.   That said, as many of the commentators here already said, I think the best overall best version of A Christmas Carol is Muppet Christmas Carol from 1992. It works because Michael Caine plays it stone dead serious even when he is sharing the screen with a bunch of Muppets. Caine famously said that he played against the Muppets like he was playing against the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the contrast with Caine's serious performance against the silliness of the Muppets creates a sort of alchemy that works really well. Also, The Man Who Invented Christmas from 2017, a highly fictionalized version of Charles Dickens writing a Christmas Carol, is definitely worth watching even though it takes a few, well, more than a few creative liberties with the facts.   So that is it for Question of the Week this week.   00:04:26 Writing Goals 2024/2025   Now let's look back at my writing goals for 2024, see if I was able to meet them or not, and then look ahead to my writing goals for this coming year of 2025. First of all, I would like to very much thank everyone who bought one of my books or audiobooks this year. I am glad you enjoyed them. I would also like to thank the narrators I worked with this year, C.J. McCallister, Hollis McCarthy, Brad Wills, and Leanne Woodward, who actually did the work of creating amazing audiobooks. Additionally, I would also like to thank my podcast transcriptionist, my Excel bookkeeper, and my audiobook proof listener (all three of whom wished to remain anonymous), who really helped out and took a lot of work off my plate this year so I could focus on writing. 2024 for me on a personal level was a pretty good year. However, I admit it was a rough year for book sales. I was down about 12% overall. This came from two causes. One, a significant portion of the book reading American public disappeared into doomscrolling their news and social media apps from July to about November. Two, I scattered my attention too much across too many series. I think in 2025, I'm going to focus up and do an Andomhaim book every other month like I did from oh, 2013 to 2023 or so. But all that is to come. Let's first look back and see if I met 2024's writing goals.   #1: Write as many words as possible while trying to hit 1 million new words. I did it! I am very pleased to report that I published 1 million words of new fiction in 2024, for the first time since 2020. In 2021, I only published 971,000 words. I figured I had slipped and would get to it the next year. In 2022, however, I only published 814,000 words. This happened due to a combination of a lot of travel and various real-life stresses. In 2023, I published 935,000 words, a significant improvement over the previous year, but I had COVID twice pretty close together in the early spring/summer of that year and that really messed me up for a couple months.   But in 2024 (as of Orc-Hoard), I published 1,490,000 new words of fiction for the year. My ten 10,000 word days for 2024 probably helped with that a great deal. I am very happy about this since I tried to hit a million words in 2021, 2022, and 2023 but just couldn't quite get there. So it is very satisfying (after four years of not quite making it) to have finally published a million words of new fiction in 2024. Naturally, I hope to repeat this feat in 2025, but more on that in a little bit.   #2: Start The Shield War. I did that as well, publishing Shield of Storms, Shield of Darkness, and Shield of Conquest all in 2024, and they're even all in audiobook (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills).   #3: Continue Cloak Mage. I did that as well with Cloak of Titans and Cloak of Illusion. Both books were interesting challenges to write, since Titans burned up a lot of the ongoing subplots for the series. No spoilers. Cloak of Illusion had to work with a new game board, so to speak since so much had changed in the previous book.   #4: Continue Ghost Armor. I did that as well with Ghosts in the Veils and Ghost in the Tombs and both of them are in audiobook (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy). #5: Continue Half-Elven Thief. I was able to do that as well with Wizard Thief, Half-Orc Paladin, and Orc-Hoard. Half-Elven Thief, Wizard Thief, and Half-Orc Paladin are in audiobook, as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward.   #6: Continue Sevenfold Sword Online. Around June, I renamed this series to Stealth and Spells Online since so many people were getting confused with Sevenfold Sword. I did release Stealth and Spells Online: Leveling in February. Both books in the series are in audio, as excellently narrated by C.J. McAllister.   #7: New audiobooks for new books. There's only so much time, energy, and especially budget for audiobooks, so I decided that I was only going to do audiobooks in new series going forward rather than trying to have old books recorded. I think this worked out pretty well, all told, because 2024 will be the best year so far for my self-published audiobooks. We did end up recording some of the older Cloak Mage audiobooks because I promised Hollis McCarthy a recording spot in April for Ghost in the Veils, but I just couldn't finish that book in time. So we did Cloak Mage #7 instead, with #8 and #9 to come in 2025.   So I'm pleased I met all my writing goals for 2024. As might have guessed, I'm especially pleased about the million words, since I had been trying to reach that in a year for the last four years and we finally managed to do it in 2024. Very satisfying, lemme tell you.   Now let's look ahead to my writing goals for 2025. Here is what I would like to do, in order of priority.   #1: Write as many words as possible, hopefully hitting 1 million words of new fiction. As I mentioned above, it was enormously satisfying to hit a million new words in a year after failing to do so since 2020. So I would like to do that again if possible, though of course circumstances may be out of my control. Regardless, I definitely want to write as much as possible in 2025.   #2: Finish The Shield War. I am exactly halfway through The Shield War, which as I mentioned earlier in the show, puts me on book four of six. I am planning to write a Shield War book every other month in 2025 until the series is complete.   #3: Finish Ghost Armor. I'm also exactly halfway through the Ghost Armor series, which puts me on book four of six. Like with Shield War, I'm planning to write a Ghost Armor book every other month until the series is complete.   #4: Continue Cloak Mage. Once The Shield War and Ghost Armor are complete, I plan to continue Cloak Mage, though I will probably start Cloak of Worlds a little earlier as a secondary project. I was originally planning for 15 books in Cloak Mage, but I realized I have way too much story to fit into the remaining three books. So it's going to be 18 in total (not 15), with a suitably epic conclusion once I get to the 18th and final book.   #5: Continue Half-Elven Thief. I also want to continue Half-Elven Thief because of the three new things I've tried in the last four years, this one has worked the best. I had originally planned for six books, but as with Cloak Mage, there's too much story to fit in six, so it's going to be nine instead.   #6: Conclude Stealth and Spells Online. As of this recording, I am 29,000 words into Stealth and Spells Online: Reactant, which will be the third and very definitely final book in the series (or trilogy, technically, since it's only three). I would very much like to thank everyone who read the first two books or listened to the first two audiobooks.   Stealth and Spells Online, I admit, didn't perform as well as I had hoped. I was just crunching some numbers to get ready for tax time, which means also looking at my bestselling books of 2024. I have published 158 novels, but my top 10 in any given year are usually books I published in that year. My top five bestselling books in 2024 (unless something drastically changes in the next 10 days) are Shield of Storms, Shield of Darkness, Cloak of Titans, Shield of Conquest, and Ghost in the Veils. All five of them came out in 2024, so that's not a big surprise.   Stealth and Spells Online: Leveling came out in February, 2024, so logically you would expect it to be in the top 10. Nope. Top 20? Still nope. Top 30? Got to keep going. It was the 41st bestselling book of 2024. It came out in February, which means it had abundant chances to place in the top 10, but sadly it did not. The Dragonskull and Sevenfold Sword series, both of which have been done for a while, both outsold Stealth and Spells Online: Leveling by a significant margin.   I think the problem is that I wanted to write a LitRPG book, but what I ended up with was a high concept science fiction espionage thriller with some LitRPG elements to it. Maybe I should have written it so the protagonist Noah Carver had a harem of anime monster girls or something. That always seems to be popular in LitRPG. The initial confusion with Sevenfold Sword probably didn't help matters, either. I honestly thought about abandoning the series, but if I left it unfinished, it would nag at me forever like a permanent pebble in my shoe. So I've been working on the third book as a secondary project and will hopefully publish it around this summer or so. It will wrap up the story with no unfinished threads while hopefully providing a satisfactory ending to the readers. That will be the definitive end of my foray into the world of LitRPG, then it will be time to turn to my next focus.   #7: A new epic fantasy series in the Andomhaim setting. I will start on this after The Shield War is done and it will be my main focus for a while, with books coming ideally every other month. I'm still working on the concept, but all I'll say so far is that we'll be set in Owyllain, which we haven't visited in any depth since Sevenfold Sword finished back in 2019. Even back in Sevenfold Sword, we didn't really see all that much of Owyllain, mainly the cities Aenesium and Trojas. So there's a lot of potential for story ideas there.   #8: My eighth and final goal for 2025: new audiobooks as time, budget, and narrator availability allow. My self-published audiobooks did a bit better in 2024 than they did in 2023, so I think I'm going to continue with focusing on new releases rather than trying to bring older series into audio. I would like to do as many new releases in audio as possible, though of course this depends on budget, narrator availability, and a few other factors.   So those are my writing goals for 2025. Hopefully I shall have some excellent new books for you very soon, though there's always a quote from the Book of James that I like to remember when I'm making long-term plans: “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”   So if the Lord wills it, that is what I'm hoping to do in 2025.   So that is it for this week and indeed for 2024. I'd just like to take a moment to thank everyone who has listened to the podcast this year. I hope you have found it enjoyable and at times a profitable experience to do so. And also once again, I'd like to thank my podcast transcriptionist. Without her help, the podcast would not have its own dedicated website and there would definitely not be transcripts for the podcast.   So thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com, often with transcripts (added note: transcriptions are available for Episode 140 onward). If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next year and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

This week on the CritRPG podcast we sit down with SerasStreams to talk about the Progression Fantasy market and the value of anonymity as a successful writer. Watch out for a very hot Brandon Sanderson take! -------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links here:https://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------SerasStreams' Series:Ruinous ReturnDark Matter AscensionLast Lord of the FaeOther books mentioned in this episode:Second SummonsRiftwalkerThousand Tongue MageStormstriderUltimate Level 1Battle Through the Nine RealmsDawn of the Last Dragon RiderKrondor the BetrayalMagician ApprenticeMagician MasterSherlock HolmesMy Hero AcademiaJourney to the WestTorchbearerParadise LostMistbornStormlight ArchivesStargazer's WarChronicles of Twilight DragonTwilight of Autumn DragonsShades of PerceptionNova RomaVirtuous SonsGodcladsThe Starlit Night-------------------------------------------Why and how this book? 2:25Best Advice you ever got as a writer? 42:45One thing you would do differently in a new story? 59:56One book that you love, and why is it awesome? 1:05:34Shoutouts 1:08:03Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

This week on the CritRPG Podcast, we got lucky sevens! Fittingly, we're talking with Cultivating Chai author Daoist Enigma about cozy fantasy, the value of reaching out to those who came before you, and of course, chai! :D-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links here:https://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Enigma's Series:Cultivating ChaiThe Legendary FoolBorn for the ApocalypseModern PatriarchOther books mentioned in this episode:Mark of the FoolTatermandQuest AcademyMother of LearningReturn of the Runebound ProfessorRise of the Living ForgeBog Standard Isekai Corruption WielderDemonic DevourerBeware of ChickenHeretical Fishing-------------------------------------------Why and how this book? 1:41Best Advice you ever got as a writer? 15:58One thing you would do differently in a new story? 23:50One book that you love, and why is it awesome? 36:35Shoutouts 40:30Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

This week on the CritRPG Podcast I talk to MG Driver about the differences between Western and Eastern progression fantasy, and how Driver's experiences travelling have shaped his worlds. -------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links here:https://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Driver's Series: Black MarketOther books mentioned in this episode:Dungeon Crawler CarlDefiance After the FallBeware of ChickenRed RisingStargazer's WallWorth the CandlePrimal HunterBetter Through the AgesHeretical FishingTorchbearerPerfect RunJourney of Black and Red40 Millenniums of CultivationHalf Life EmpireDemon Card EnforcerUltimate Level OneNine LivesCity of Thorns-------------------------------------------Why and how this book? 1:14Best Advice you ever got as a writer? 22:21One thing you would do differently in a new story? 33:19One book that you love, and why is it awesome? 49:57Shoutouts 1:04:07Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

This week on the CritRPG Podcast I sit down with DrDoritosMD to discuss his series and the influence of Stargate and Gate in his work!-------------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links here:https://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------DrDorito's Books:Summoning AmericaManifest FantasyArcane ExfilOther Series mentioned in this episode: Gate: War of Two Worlds by PWOFalconInto the Rift by Renegade RusskiyPhysics of the Future by Michio KakuNexus by Yuval Noah HarariSapiens by Yuval Noah HarariHomo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari-------------------------------------------Why and how this book? 2:15Best Advice you ever got as a writer? 28:47One thing you would do differently in a new story? 38:55One book that you love, and why is it awesome? 50:08Shoutouts 1:06:10Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

The 7 Days Of Chaos! | A LitRPG Apocalypse Story

This week on the CritRPG podcast I talk to Alexander Wales, author of Worth the Candle, This Used to Be About Dungeons, Thresholder and Millennial Scarlet about new webcomic adaptation of Worth the Candle, and about the inspirations behind each of his series! Worth the Candle webcomichttps://www.webtoons.com/en/action/worth-the-candle/episode-1/viewer?title_no=7061&episode_no=1Alexander's SeriesWorth the Candle This Used to be About DungeonsThresholderMillennial Scarlet-----------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links here:https://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Books mentioned in this episode: Final Boss Best Friends by rachasuddThe Emperor's Soul by Brandon SandersonThe Daily Grind: A Slice-Of-Life LitRPG by ArgusPlayer Manager by Ted SteelThe Magicians by Lev GrossmanBright Sword by Lev GrossmanFine Structure by qntmRa by qntmThe Antimemetic Sequence by qntm-------------------------------------------Why and how this book? 6:38Best Advice you ever got as a writer? 58:41One thing you would do differently in a new story? 1:03:35One book that you love, and why is it awesome? 1:11:47Shoutouts 1:17:39Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

This week on the CritRPG Podcast I talk with Lunadea, author of Syl, about their love of monster MCs and the value of pantsing while firing from the hip on Royal Road! -----------------------------------------We have our own website now! It has all the info you need, a merch store, and more!https://critrpgpodcast.com/If you want to listen to the entire podcast without ads, PLUS at least ONE HOUR of additional content for EVERY EPISODE, consider subscribing to our Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/critrpgpodcastFind my own books and other links here:https://linktr.ee/madix3I am active in these Discords and Groups! Check them out if you want to discuss LitRPG and progression Fantasy novels! https://linktr.ee/critrpglinksFor business inquiries: critrpgpodcast.social@gmail.com-------------------------------------------Books mentioned in this episode: Lunadea's Series: Syl [A Slime Monster Evolution LitRPG] So I'm a Spider, So What by Okina BabaThat Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime by FuseSalvos by MelasDeltaChrysalis by RinoZBeneath the Dragoneye Moons by SelkieThe Name of the Wind by Patrick RothfussAscendance of a Bookworm by Miya KazukiWheel of Time by Robert JordanLove Crafted by RavensDaggerAve Xia Rem Y by Mat HazHe Who Fights with Monsters by ShirtaloonDreamer's Throne by Seth RingThe Runic Artist by EllakeRuinous Return by SerasStreamsDear Spellbook by Peter LeeA Dream of Wings and Flame by CocoClaws Out by Sean OswaldUndersea Reincarnation by CalcroissantThe Dragon Heir by MangowoReborn as a Demon Hat by IronLungSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/critrpg-a-podcast-about-litrpg-progression-fantasy-and-their/donations

Escaping Horrorland | A LitRPG Horror Story (Complete Story)

Escaping Horrorland | A LitRPG Horror Story 

Escaping Horrorland | A LitRPG Horror Story (Part II of III)

Escaping Horrorland | A Horror LitRPG Story.  A horror story about a man who has been sent into an open world horror game and must find a way to survive, because if he now dies in the game, he dies for real!

Welcome to our first "official" RPG book review through the lens of LitRPG! We hope you enjoy it. Please check out these links from the episode: Star Trek Adventures 2e Core Rulebook Continuing Conversations Episode 145 Continuing Conversations Episode (YouTube) Welcome to Dice in Mind, a podcast hosted by Bradley Browne and Jason A. Kaufman to explore the intersection of life, games, science, music, philosophy, and creativity through interviews with leading creatives. All are welcome in this space. Royalty-free music "Night Jazz Beats" courtesy of flybirdaudio.

This week the top story is Audibly Confused. Question of the week is What thing would happen that you could consider viral success beyond your wildest book dreams?